Sandbox/Vespians/VII
The world is chaotic, and the Vespian realms are the beacon of light and order. The absolute will to rule and to dominate is a trait passed on from the gods to the Vespians, and thus any being subjected to that will is thus subjected to the will of the gods. So if the Vespians are extensions of their gods' will, then any non-Vespians subjected to that will are less than the dirt they stand upon. This effectively justifies the evils perpetrated upon foreigners by the Vespians from the Vespians own viewpoint. The gods hold back the chaotic destructive powers of the universe, leaving the physical universal as a tenous realm of "stability". The Vespians are tasked with providing for the gods, not just repayment for their creation in blood and entertainment, but food and worship, feeding the gods with human flesh and fueling their powers through the combined will of the Vespian people. Basically, the more Vespians there are to worship the gods, the most powerful they become. Eventually, when the Vespians dominate all life in the physical universe, the gods will become powerful enough to banish the chaos that blights the spiritual universe, and bring about true peace. or the Vespians, all life is but a sinking ship without their gods. Attempting to survive without them is nothing more than climbing a pyramid of bodies on a sinking ship in the middle of a vast and endless ocean. In the end, a Vespian's life revolves around a deluded reality that they are but batteries for deities that maintain the stark realities of their existence. The Vespians are already dead, and their sole purpose is to live a life of sacrifice so as to prevent all reality from shattering under the weight of their slain gods. Concept The Vespians believe that all humans were created by Zhautan, and to serve his long-term purposes, ingrained in all of them the desire to worship a higher power. The Vespians fulfilled this purpose for they, being the perfect creations of Zhautan, acknowledge his existence and right to rule, and actively work to further his will. By doing so, they feed Zhautan's power and aid him in preparing for the day when he will combat the malevolent entity of pure malice and irrationality known as the Zhanivoyan. The non-Vespians on the other-hand, were the result of Zhautan's growing weakness and inability to create equally perfect beings such as Veskan. As such, their minds became corrupted by Zhanivoyan, and they became twisted versions of what were suppose to become perfect and obedient servants such as the Vespians. Thus, the Vespians developed a three-tiered social system based on spirituality and worship of the gods. Those who worshiped the Zhautan and the Ta'Vina were the obedient adherents of the Zheanic faith, and at the top of the pyramid of humans. Below them were the heathens, misguided beings who believe in higher powers, but worship the wrong deities, and thus serve the purposes of Zhanivoyan by feeding the foul entity with their collective metaphysical energy. These can be somewhat "reclaimed" through serving Zhautan through their labor, and are thus the source of slaves for the devout Vespians. Finally, at the absolute bottom are the infidels, those with no belief in any higher powers. These individuals are deemed the absolute antithesis of Zhautan's will for all life, and considered the apex of Zhanivoyan's influence in the physical universe. Considered unnatural to the extreme by the Vespians, infidels are without any form of salvation or retribution, and their only penance is their being exterminated by the Vespians as a final effort to cleanse the footprint of Zhanivoyan's influence in the mortal realm. Beliefs Zheaniism teaches that prior to the rise of mortal beings in the physical universe, there was only the spiritual realm which Zhautan inhabited along with many other primordial spiritual beings. These realm was torn asunder when the ancient being of unimaginable evil and malice, unknowable to human minds, known as Zhanivoyan, brought its chaos and evil into the spiritual realm from planes unknown. Its actions wiped out virtually all other beings in the spirit realm, with the sole exception of Zhautan, who stood against the creature and managed to drive it off in a great battle. The malevolent entity was only driven off temporarily, though at great cost to Zhautan, who was gravely wounded in the battle. Knowing that should the beast return, he would die, Zhautan moved to prepare a final defense against the entity by creating the physical universe and the life within it, with the goal of empowering himself by linking the worship of the mortal beings to himself, and tying their souls to the spiritual universe to craft an army as they joined him after death. Zhautan first created the Ta'Vina, the deities of the Zheanic religion, as delegates to host his power and abilities. They would serve as the generals for the great war to come, and guide the humans he would later use to fill his heavenly armies in the coming war. Next, using his blood, flesh, and bone, Zhautan crafted the mortal beings to serve him on the earth, creating the first man, Veskan, the father of the Vespian people. However, as he grow weaker and weaker, his creations became more and more imperfect in their outcome, with some being grossly misshapen or defying Zhautan's will. As such, the Vespians came to be the only truly perfect creations of Zhautan. Zhautan would then spend his time recuperating from his injuries as his heavenly children managed the spiritual realm in his absence, while in the physical realm the Vespians under Veskan and the later Tazens, would spearhead his needs as servants and warriors on the earth. Because of the naturally mortal status of humans, the Vespians do not view death as a bad thing, rather believing that they are fulfilling the first part of their life service to Zhautan, before moving on into the spiritual world to serve him in greater capacity there. As the influence of Zhanivoyan continues to taint the physical universe, the Vespians view themselves as responsible for cleansing the taint of the entity from the earth, mainly through wiping out all of the corrupted creations of Zhautan and repopulating the lands with faithful Vespians, whose worship increases the power of the gods and Zhautan in particularly, strengthening him for the final battle with Zhanivoyan. Ultimately, once the Vespians have cleansed the earth of corrupted humans, and spread the worship Zhautan throughout the physical universe, Zhanivoyan will return to combat Zhautan to decide the fate of all creation.